Dumb Money: The Movie Theater

This is a Guest Post from Kevin at No Debt Plan, a blog about living debt-free. This is part of Kevin’s Dumb Money series.

I was recently thinking about my first real job — doorman at the movie theater. Ah, the days of minimum wage. I thought movies were expensive back then, but nowadays they cost a fortune. Let’s look at some numbers.

Assume a family of four (two adults, two children) goes to the movies on a Saturday night. I researched the ticket prices for a local theater with Fandango simply because I haven’t been to an actual theater in years. I can’t as easily research concessions, but let’s say they spend at least $5 per person. (I’m guessing this would still be fairly low.) Your expenses would be:

Cost of Adult Ticket: $9.50 x 2 = $19.00

Cost of Child Ticket: $6.50 x 2 = $13.00

Concessions: $20

Total: $52

That’s $52 for, at most, three hours of entertainment. Some may find that reasonable, I think it’s ridiculous, and for more reasons that just the cost. There is simply no convenience to going to the movie theater.

You are on someone else’s time table. If you get stuck in traffic, you miss out or your plans are pushed back 2-3 hours.

You have to go somewhere other than your house. You are spending additional money on gas and other car related expenses.

You don’t get to set the thermostat. It can be too cold. It can be too hot. How do you prepare? Wear layers? Just to go to the movies?

You can’t pause. Have a coughing fit? (Get up and leave — you’re ruining the expensive experience for everyone else!) Need to go the bathroom? Need to take your child to the bathroom? You may miss out on some of the best scenes.

You can’t rewind. Really love that line or special effect? You can’t go back and see it again, at least until the DVD comes out.

Other people can ruin the movie for you. There were countless times when I worked at the theater that we would get complaints about someone on a cell phone, or kids being loud, or any number of other things you could imagine.

Let’s contrast all of the above with renting or owning the DVD yourself. For my $52 spent at the movies, I can pay for almost four months of the Netflix two-DVDs-at-a-time plan. I could probably watch a movie every three days with that plan. But even if I only watched one every two weeks, that’s at least seven movies. (Also, with Netflix you can now get unlimited downloadable movies!)

Plus, when you’re watching a DVD, you’re at home. You can pause, rewind, or watch in your pajamas. You’re on your schedule and in your comfort zone. Want refreshments? For what you spend at the theater, you could buy enough popcorn and soda to have a group of friends over!

I’ll be the first to admit there’s nothing like watching an action thriller on the big screen. The explosions are that much bigger, and it truly is an experience. But staying at home is the more frugal of the two options and, frankly, my personal preference.

And really, can you justify spending $5 for one bag of popcorn?

J.D.’s note: I’m not as anti-theater as Kevin, but since Kris and I began using Netflix several years ago, our theater attendance has dropped sharply. The last film we saw was Juno on Christmas Day. I was shocked that my ticket cost $8.50. On a holiday! My refreshments — child’s popcorn, a pack of Red Vines, and a soda — cost over $10. Since when does it cost $20 to go see a movie? This is why we stick to the second-run movie houses — five bucks for a film and a snack.

Some theaters (Kerasotas in my area) have “five buck clubs” which make things a little better. Basically, you sign up for a card (all they want is your e-mail) and they send you a list of “qualifying” movies. Usually these movies are a few weeks old. And for $5, it’s a little more affordable to go see the big, splashy, special effects filled blockbusters (such as Live Free or Die Hard).

Most of the time, that’s what we do, although we also prefer to go early evening in the week- you usually miss out on the big crowds, so you don’t have to worry as much about missing lines, or disturbing people if you have a coughing fit.

Our kids are still small so we have been taking them to the theater once a year. We go to a $2 movie house to see whatever the kid summer blockbuster was supposed to be. The snacks are cheaper at the $2 place as well. You can still easily kill off a 10 dollar bill but you get enough to nearly call it dinner.

Otherwise, our movie viewing consists of DVDs checked out from the library.

The thing I miss most at the theater (besides rewind and pause) is the closed captioning. If I miss a line at the theater, it’s gone forever!

We use one of our credit cards which is part of the ThankYou network from Citibank to get free movie passes – the we pay our balance in full every month, and for not that many points (compared to the dollar value of going to the movies) we get two tickes and some concession money. We don’t go to the movies often (probably only every two or three months) but it is a nice treat, and I can’t remember the last time I paid for a movie.

I find the price of concessions offensive, and so don’t buy them. Especially for GRS readers, this should be the tip- go for early shows (before 6pm) and don’t buy concessions. Your $52 trip would have become a $25 one.

We regularly go to the movies, and we also have Netflix. Tickets at our local theater are only $5.50 (military discount). That $11 trip to the movies is cheap enough that we don’t feel bad about making a date night out of it.

We generally don’t buy snacks or drinks, though we do have a loyalty card to our nearby theater and it nabs us free drink or popcorn coupons and free tickets about every 3rd or 4th trip.

Besides loving our Blockbuster subscription, we stopped going to movies for the same reason we don’t like concerts or sporting events: no control over the food. We’re not allowed to bring our own food into the venue, yet there are no options that are vegetarian, heart-conscious, and so on. I got tired of being forced to either eat greasy junk or go hungry.

I can’t believe $8.50 is much to go to the cinema. Here in Switzerland, when I go to the cinema with my wife (no children), we pay each $10 (reduced fee) for the train and each(!) $15 for the film. So that’s $50 for the two of us – without pop corn.

Kevin raises some outstanding points, but I think he may never have spent a rainy weekend housebound with two kids.

I’m a huge lover of movies checked out of the library. Since my library participates in an inter-library loan service, I can get nearly any film or tv series for free. Most items come within a couple of weeks of request. Patrons have a week to watch, and pay only $1 a day for late returns.

Well, we saved up and bought a projector and two screens. Now we can watch inside, by the pool or out on the lawn with the tiki torches! Much more fun, plus we can control all the goodies and things we want to eat, we can rewind and we can invite tons of friends over to share it with.

With that being said, we STILL go the movies a few times a year. I will only go IF we can pay matinee or military discount pricing, and we do bring our own snacks..using the excuse that they don’t serve anything healthy in there, so mom has to provide it!

I totally agree. It’s a BIG deal for us to go to the movies (just my husband and I go – our son is too little). I’m really choosy about which movie — I’ll only go to the theater when the movie has effects that I really want to see on the big screen. We saw all of the LOTR series and the Star Wars movies, Transformers, and Spiderman movies in the theater… but we haven’t been in quite awhile.

My wife is disabled, so we rarely go to the movies as a family. I sometimes take my 6-year-old, and she likes it a lot. I would take her more often if we could come to some agreement about concessions. If half the time we didn’t get food, I’d take her a good bit more often.

I’m also a fan of buying DVDs. We canceled our cable when our daughter was born because we didn’t have time to watch it. I’ve never done the Netflix thing, but for $50 a month (the cost of the cable we canceled) we can buy as many movies as we want.

We did buy a big screen television, the symbol of non-frugality, but when you realize that 5 years worth of cable is $3000 saved (not to mention movie tickets), the TV doesn’t seem so expensive.

We usually sneak our own snacks into the theater. We also often go to the 6 PM show right after dinner, thereby negating the necessity of a snack in the first place.

Anyway, I think the author misses the point of going to the movies. It’s a social experience. It has little to do with the actual movie. You are not paying $52 to see a movie. You are paying $52 for a night out with the family or date and a shared social experience. The movie industry itself seems to miss this point too.

Not too bad, but there are much better options. I only go to the theatre for special reasons. U2 3D or an action thriller that you just have to see on the big screen. (at least until I save for a hdtv)

You are correct that nothing beats the Movie Theater. I’m glad that Fandango and McDonald’s had the $1 movie deal last year till xmas. I was able to get 4 coupons. Went to the movies twice with GF for $2 plus drink/popcorn came to $9. If it had been normal price it would had been $10.50 for each movie, plus the $1 fandango charge: final cost $30 with food. Way to expensive.

To: SJ
How do you get the free movies through thank you points? Are you using the thank you points for free movies?

If your local theater is like mine, it offers special prices for “kid shows” (ours is $3). Our family of four can see a movie for $12 (we bring our own refreshments). It’s also a fun experience to share that makes for life-long memories…

Not bad for 12 bucks…

For other movie-watching, I agree with J.D. and another comment that NetFlix and the Library make for wonderful alternatives to the theater…

I just cannot justify the cost of a night out at the movies when in 2-4 months I could just rent (or buy on the rare occasion) the DVD.

I’m much happier watching a film at home, in pjs, in a comfy recliner with a glass of wine and a slice or two of pizza than I ever am in a movie theatre.

I’m starting to feel the same way about television. Paying crazy amounts of money to have cable (even basic cable) when there are only a handful of shows I really want to watch in a year. I’d rather buy the complete season of the 2 or 3 shows I truly can’t miss and watch them commercial free on my own time than pay for cable each month.

I rarely go to the cinema with my wife now, and it really tends to be just for special occasions (e.g. very highly anticipated film or social meeting with friends we’ve not seen in far too long). Among other things the total cost ends up being around £20 for two, money which we can put to much better use.

However you could make this argument with a lot of things, especially live sport, but despite spiralling ticketing costs that’s probably the last thing I’d give up to save money (behind our dog).

My wife does take advantage of Orange Wednesdays with her best friend on a regular basis though (2-for-1 ticket deal with the Orange phone network in the UK). It’s a cheaper way for them to see films and it also lets the respective other halves avoid chick flicks.

As a kid, my entire family (six of us) went every year once a year — an uncle would give us gift certificates for dinner and a movie for the family at Christmas, and once the big family film or Disney movie for that year came out off we’d go. Now I rarely set foot in a theater, unless it’s a movie I really desperately want to see. Sometimes — especially with something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings — there’s an added level of audience reaction in the theater that you don’t get at home. When I do go to the theater, that’s what brings me in.

Our local library has a totally awesome library of DVD’s. As a matter of fact, they usually get the latest releases on the day of release–only downside…sometimes we’re 110 on the reserve list. However, to save myself $50, and all the other reasons listed, I can wait. And, because their depth is extreme–we live in an university town–there’s hardly a movie we can’t get, even the indies. So, this is an easy-peasie place to save money for us. We do do the big screen option every once in awhile, but then its before 5 pm or Tuesday night special for us. Great post! We’ve got friends who go to 2 movies a weekend and then tell us they have no money to do anything. plu-lease!

Plus, when you’re watching a DVD, you’re at home. Which is at least as much a minus as a plus, for me. Sometimes you need to get out of the house. Sometimes you want a shared experience (I love going to a new, eagerly anticipated movie and feeling the energy of the crowd shift as the feature opens). For me, going out to the movies is less a pricy alternative to staying in with a DVD, and more a cheap alternative to live theater. I miss out a little on the thrill of a live performance, but I get much higher production values than I’d find at a play or opera at a similar price point.

There are plenty of other arguments to be made against going to the movies vs. other entertainment options, but I really think comparing “going out” and “staying in” is an apples to oranges comparison. At least for me, they fill two different purposes.

My girlfriend and I love to go to the movies, usually about twice a month, more during the summer and fall. I use my employer to get cheap movie tickets and subscribed to the local theatre (Regal) discount card, which nets us a free popcorn or soda every third movie or so.

I love going to the movies and will never give it up. To save money I
1) go to matinees.

2) sneak my own food and drink into theaters.

3) go to the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX, where instead of charging $5 for stale popcorn they serve restaurant-quality food at restaurant prices (for example, $5 for an appetizer, $9 for a pizza). If you don’t want a meal, you can buy a reasonably-priced draft beer or scoop of ice cream. My fiance and I usually get full meals & movie tickets for $35. Plus, instead of bad commercials before the movie, they show fun clips of old TV shows and movies.

Thanks for all the feedback. I’ll try to address some questions/comments:

Yes, going to a matinée helps cut some of the cost down.

@Sam: ouch! that’s an expensive trip!

@HollyP: You are exactly right. I don’t know what I would do with a house full of kids. I guess I would still try to avoid the theater. The library is a great resource for borrowing movies, too.

@COD: Hmm, I slightly disagree. If you are looking for a social experience, why would you sit in front of a giant screen and quietly watch a movie? I would go to a coffee shop or anywhere else where you could carry a conversation with someone.

I really think its just a matter of prioritizing, just like other entertainment options.

My husband and I are huge film buffs, and we tend to go to the theater a few times a month (on top of our Netflix and library rentals). We love the social experience of the movie theater – there is really nothing like seeing a great comedy or horror film in a packed house. We also live in a large city where there are limited releases that may never come to DVD. In fact, we’ll even pay to see an older release (like the recent Blade Runner final cut) in the theater just because there’s nothing like experiencing a film on the big screen.

We don’t buy the snacks, we often go to the (cheaper) matinée, and we take advantage of free and sneak previews when we can.

So if we go to a matinée three times a month as a couple ($7 x 2 x 3 = $42) thats still three fun days out for less than we we would pay for cable each month (which we don’t). And about the same as one dinner out. Still seems like a pretty good value to us.

You don’t have to buy concessions. There’s nothing wrong with watching a movie without stuffing your face full of bad food. Not drinking 60 ounces of pop also eliminates the need to get up to pee and miss part of the movie.

Also, I’ve found that it’s not very often that other people in the theater ruin a movie. Kids are rarely at the more serious films I see, where one expects a quiet and serious atmosphere. I actually like the social aspect of seeing films. If I’m watching Monsters Inc., I expect lots of laughter and glee.

I love movies, so I don’t mind paying a little extra to see a movie on the big screen with high quality sound. But I never buy concessions and I try to take advantage of second-run movie houses to catch up on movies I haven’t seen. And going on a weeknight or for a matinee is much cheaper.

Also I am often confused by is people who go to the theater and pick a random movie when they get there. Then they complain that the movie was so lame they walked out before it was over. I always check the reviews and solicit opinions from friends before deciding to see a movie.

The bottom line is that even for a guy like me who watches 90% of his movies at home and rented free from the library, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the theatrical experience frugally.

Don, your dd is old enough that you can negotiate over how to spend the entertainment fund. If your dd knows she can either go to the movie 1x and eat, or go to the movies 2x she might make a different decision.

In our house, many purchasing decisions are compared to the number of times we could eat at our children’s favorite restaurant. (Knowing that a trip to Disneyworld equals the cost of dining out weekly for more than 3 years was an eye opener for them.)

Going to the movies is not generally an alternative to staying in and watching a movie and should not be compared to it. The two serve different purposes and I enjoy both at the right time. They are completely different experiences.

We cancelled out cable back in April of 2006 and love it. We rarely go to movies, although there are the odd exceptions.

We do on the other hand, buy movies – but only when they’ve fallen in price to what we deem reasonable (2 for $30 or less) – this is fine by us because we are re-watchers. If we enjoy a movie, we’ll re-watch it a few times.

Heck, we’ve just started our third time going through the TV series Firefly.

I have cut back on movies but there are some thing that should be experienced on the big screen. The LOTR triology comes to mind. Sure the DVDs are nice but to see it on the giant screen was incredible. The only movies I go to now are what one would call ‘eye-candy’. Transformers, Cloverfield, Iron Man, anything Pixar, Potters, etc. I am sorry but even on a 60″ screen, it does not compare to the giant screen. (Caveat, even if it may be visually pleasing, I will not see just anything…SpiderMan3, Shrek3 come to mind)

In light of this, I see not need to see comedy films or dramas at the theater as I do not see the need as the point is the more story than brilliant visuals.

As you can see, this does not mean I go to the movies much. 2-3 times a year at most. Since it is such an occasion, I go all out. Giant popcorn. I admit, I sneak in soda and gummy worms but I love the warm theater popcorn. Also, I go to the noon showing to avoid (1) high evening costs and (2) less jerks show up. Unless it is a major release with a midnight showing on Thursday. Then, you know, NO ONE will have a cell phone going off or will talk for fear of reprisal from the guy dressed up like Darth Maul.

How about giving up your car for a year and taking the bus or the bike? I don’t drive a car, I live ecologically and can afford the movie theater every once in a while. Plus you get to take you own sweater, if it gets cold! And, it’s actually not mandatory to buy popcorn!

@javert: Exactly. As I said, there are just some movies you -have- to see on the big screen. The comedies you mentioned would not be one of them.

@All: It all depends on your personal situation, too. If you are out of debt and well on your way to retirement, then maybe it isn’t that big of a deal to you. But its the people that are struggling with saving and debt that should avoid the theater the most. In the end, this is just my opinion, but I appreciate all of the feedback.

While the theater may be expensive, there is nothing like watching a comedy with a large audience that laughs along as well. I cannot even begin to agree with saying that the benefits of owning the DVD instead of seeing it in the theater are more.

This past weekend, I took my family and one of the kids’ friends (5 in all, including myself) to see Spiderwick. I had a gift card for the theatre that covered all of our ticket prices, so admission was “free”. From the concession stand I bought the following: a kids pack (popcorn, soft drink, candy), two trays of nachos, one small fries and two regular soft drinks. Total cost: over $40.
At home, I could have paid $3 to rent a movie, made my own popcorn for a buck, spent about another $3 to put together my own nachos, and a buck for 2 L of soft drinks. Total cost: $8-$10. Plus, I wouldn’t have had to put up with bad seating, noisy patrons, sticky floors, and counter lines.
As a result, I’ve resolved that every time I feel the urge to go see a movie, I’m going to take %50 bucks and put it into my home theatre system, either to upgrade my TV or add a component. I’m done with theatres.

Okay, it’s MUCH cheaper to rent if you’re married with kids. But if you’re young and single?

I have a 13″ TV because I don’t have space in my bedroom for anything bigger, and I don’t want it to be a hassle whenever I move.
Because I have roommates, I usually watch movies with my headphones on.

This is not the way you want to watch Spider-Man.

I could spend a LOT more for a bigger apartment of my own, a larger TV, a good sound system…

Or I could go to the movies every couple of months.

If I spend $20 on a ticket, popcorn, and soda every time I go to the movies, and I see six movies a year, it would take YEARS to add up to the $500-1000 I could spend on a home theater system, if I even had the space to put it!

As someone who also worked in a movie theatre for many years, I cannot fathom paying the outrageous ticket and concession prices that I watched many willing patrons do over the years. In fact, I ran across this right after having written about my movie watching habitshere:

Unrelated to my previous comment, but related to the topic: the latest dreadful idea I’m seeing is the limited engagement movie. The Hannah Montana concert film is playing in our area. It’s only playing in one theatre, for a limited run of 3 weeks, and the theatre has upped the price by 4 bucks. There’s absolutely no reason for this aside from artificially creating demand (the shows are sold out well ahead of showtime). It’s not like she’s actually appearing in concert. Movie cinemas stop being an enjoyable social experience when you know you’re not getting your money’s worth from the outing.

I totally agree with you that the theatre is relatively expensive, probably even more so with kids.

I just don’t like the fact that you justify your frugalness by acting like it’s a stressful experience.

It’s Aesop’s tale about the fox and the grapes. You’ve made a choice to be frugal about going to movie theatres. It is a luxury that you’re choosing to forgo for other reasons. However, there’s no need to turn your nose up to the whole experience just because you want to avoid spending money.

A couple of other people have mentioned them, but I also want to put in a word for the theater discount cards. Near me, Regal and Loews/AMC offer them and you really do get free concessions or tickets every few movies, and it doesn’t cost anything to sign up. I absolutely love going to the movies and it’s an expense I choose to have, but I also love getting the free stuff from time to time.

I don’t know how many cities they’re doing it in, but one of the theaters here in NY is doing an Oscar screening day — all 5 nominated films for $5. It might already be over since the Oscars are Sunday…not sure.

Another thing about seeing movies in the theater is that you can be part of the social experience afterwards, discussing them with friends later, having an opinion on the Academy Awards, etc. I know lots of people don’t care about this stuff, but just wanted to point out sometimes it’s a pain to wait several months to see something — a movie might get ruined by the time you see it, you might find out the twist at the end or hear all the jokes a million times or it becomes overhyped, etc.

But if it’s not what you choose to spend your money on, I would never criticize!

I really just like to go to our local movies called the maxi saver…its $1.50 to get in…unfortunately the concessions are normal prices but we usually bring our own snacks and sneak them in. And with that extra money we just go see another movie, with this you can go to the movies all day and spend the same as a regular theatres. In my opinion i get the same effect of going to the movies but with a fraction of the price.

I love seeing a movie in a theater but it’s too ridiculous these days. A shame with most theaters by me is they start off great when new but after a couple of years the theaters are run down from use.

My wife recently took our daughter to see Hannah Montana in 3D as a special gift. The tickets were $15 because you pay for the 3-d glasses as well. Of course we didn’t know that before hand and my wife couldn’t tell my daughter who waited all week that the movie was too expensive. So lesson learned: 3-d = more expensive!!

You obviously don’t enjoy movie theaters, so it’s natural that you would consider it “dumb money.” Others would consider Netflix to be dumb money. Or bowling for that matter.

So are you just stating that as a personal thing, like that it would be really dumb of *you* in particular since you don’t even enjoy movie theaters (maybe even irrational or insane rather than just dumb… who would pay to do something they don’t enjoy for entertainment), or are you saying that ANYBODY who pays to go to the theater is dumb?

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